The Six Stars of Orion
by Virginia
Summary: While on a routine search, Duo and Wufei discover something that may change the lives of five Gundam Pilots forever. Warning: Mild Slash in the future, with a hinted 1x2, 3x4. Oh, and 5x? Reviews always welcome of course, but please, be gentle.
1. Routine Search

The Six Stars of Orion

By: Virginia 

Rating:  PG, for now

Summary:  On a routine search, Duo and Wufei come across something that could change the lives of the five Gundam Pilots forever.

Warnings:  Okay folks, mild violence, nothing much, yet.  Most likely swearing.  I mean, how can you have a story with Duo Maxwell and no swearing?  Yaoi sometime in the near future, mild slashiness, I'm not sure how much there will be.  Hinted 1x2 and 3x4.  5x?  Also, another huge warning!  This might turn out to be a sort of Mary Sue thing!  Not too bad on the Mary Sue level though.  I am going to do my best to give this character some depth!  Ahem.  That is all for now.  

Disclaimer:  I do not own any of the characters except for one.  So let's take all of these Gundam Wing characters and safely say they _do not_ belong to me.  Leaving the one, that happens to be a character of my own creation!  Woo hoo!  So don't sue me, okay?

"I'm telling you, there's no one alive here, Maxwell!" 

            "Just do it, Wu-man, for me?"  The man with long chestnut hair pulled back into a braid that fell past his waist spun around and walked away into the desolate city.  

            The man accompanying the braided one sighed, rolling his eyes and pulling out a small box.  

            "For someone who was Shinigami during the wars, you seem awful insistent on finding life to save now, Duo." The man muttered to himself in Chinese, as he flicked a switch on the box and started walking.  This was absolutely ridiculous.  Hundreds of searches had occurred in this particular city, and not once had anyone turned up any sign of human life.  

            Suddenly a beeping on the box brought the man to a halt.  "No way," he whispered,  "It couldn't be."  Yet there it was, a strong steady beeping light on the small screen.  It couldn't be Duo, because the braided baka was moving around, and he could see the other dot of light staying absolutely still.

            "Maxwell.  Maxwell!"  The man called urgently into his head-com.  

            "What is it, Wufei?" the reply crackled through.  

            "There's something alive here."  

            "Human?"  

            "As far as I can tell.  But we have to be careful, you know there are some species out there capable of imitating…"

            "Yeah, I know, Wu-man, calm down.  It probably is human.  Maybe someone got lost and ended up here...well, we'd better check it out, what do you say?"  He sounded impatient.  Wufei shrugged, even though he knew Duo couldn't see it.  

            "Fine.  Here are the coordinates of the spot the life source is coming from." He said, typing on the keypad attached to his arm. "Don't do anything until I get there."

            "Righto, see you there, Wuffie!"  Duo said brightly.    

~*~*~*~

Wufei climbed through the rubble that had once been one of the greatest cities on the planet Earth.  _Goddamn wars._[1]  He thought as he pulled himself carefully over what used to be a chain-linked fence.  True, he himself had once been involved in a war, more so than he like to admit.  The fact that he piloted one of the most feared Gundam suits in the universe…well, only feared by those without honor.  He had worked with four other pilots tirelessly in an attempt to free Earth and her outer space colonies from the tyranny of the evil empire Oz, then against White Fang, then the Romefeller Empire.[2]  Now, Nataku, his mobile suit, was gone, destroyed after the last and final tyrant emerged in the deceptive form of the child, Mariemaia.  

            And here he was, great hero of the Final Wars, climbing through debris looking for something that might not even be there, all for the sake of a company he didn't even know how he'd gotten involved with.  

            Wufei found himself walking across the sandy ground of what once was the Hudson River.[3]   He remembered having read about the drying of the river during his studies on the L5 colony.  It happened sometime during the Third World War, a nuclear war that devastated most of Earth and left the colonies worrying if their mother planet would eventually die and leave them stranded in space.  Somehow, the river dried, probably when the ocean receded greatly.  

            Wufei followed the beeping looking at where he was going.  Ahead, half-buried in the sand on its side was a symbol of what had been the world's strongest nation, its burnished green skin wearing away, and in some parts revealing the skeletal work beneath.  

            "What the…?"  Wufei muttered as the beeping indicated the life form was somewhere near the buried statue.  He spotted Duo heading towards him and waved him over, indicating to remain silent.  He then pulled out his laser gun, and though he would have preferred using his cherished katana, he had learned it was usually safer to keep some things at a distance rather than fight them in close combat.

            Wufei waited until Duo came up to him, thanking Buddha Duo had finally decided to remain silent.  Together they walked forward, their handguns out, ready for trouble. 

            As they moved closer, they could pick out a small form huddled near the face of the statue.  From this distance they could see it was human, and while they knew other species were capable of fooling biological readers, they weren't able to take on the form of a human being.  However, both former pilots kept to their fighting instincts, not dropping their vigil for a single second.  Soon, they were close enough to see it was indeed human, and a male, kneeling next to the statue, though they couldn't clearly see as the person's back was to them.  

            The human had its hand against the statue, stroking the copper metal gently.  They heard the person muttering, and it had a deep voice, usually an indication that it was in fact a male.  Suddenly, he stopped stroking the metal, and rested his forehead against it.  

            Wufei was unsure of what to do and just as he was going to step forward with Duo covering his back when man pulled his fist back and slammed it against the statue.  He threw his head back and howled one word to the sky.  Wufei glanced back at Duo, whose eyes were wide in surprise, neither comprehending what the man had said.  He turned back to see the man staring at him.  

            He had a shock of red hair, somewhere between the shades of auburn and carrot and from here Wufei could see chocolate brown eyes, rimmed red from obvious crying narrowed suspiciously at he and Duo.  For some reason, Wufei found himself lowering his gun and putting it away before raising his hands in a sign of peace.  The man stood on shaky legs, backing away until he encountered the metal wall behind him.  

            As Wufei moved forward, he watched the man tense, the Flight or Fight instinct obviously kicking in.  Wufei kept his hands raised in the peace offering, and tried speaking in a calm, low voice.

            "We aren't here to hurt you.  Please relax, we're friends."  

            The man didn't relax.  In fact he grew tenser as Wufei drew near, and suddenly turned and fled.  

            "Stop him!"  Wufei heard Duo cry, but he didn't move as the man sped away across the riverbed something whizzed by Wufei's ear and a second later the man collapsed to the ground.  Wufei threw an irritated look over his shoulder at Duo, who simply shrugged, before moving over to the crumpled figure.  

            There was still a pulse beating in the man's vein, a good strong pulse that indicated immediately to Wufei that other than the wonderful headache he would have in the morning, the strange red-head was healthy in every sense of the word.  Wufei picked up the rock that lay less than a foot away from the man and looked questioningly at Duo.  

            "Hey, I couldn't help it.  He was about to get away, and we couldn't let that happen especially after having found him here.  What would you rather I'd done, huh?  Shoot him?  I don't think so.  Besides, I think the people back at the base will be curious about him.  He's not wearing clothing I recognize, and he didn't seem to understand what you were saying to him.  He's obviously not from around here, though he seems to have some kind of strange attachment to Lady Liberty there.  You'd think he'd never seen her like that before.  I mean, everyone knows what happened during WW3, even people out on L20, and they're somewhere near Pluto."  

            As Duo rambled on, Wufei sighed and dropped the rock, before turning again to the unconscious figure.  

            "HQ, this is Dragon and Shinigami reporting in.  We need a med lift sent down to NYC sector 338.  Yes, I'm sure.  No, neither of us have need of it.  We found someone here, and there's been an…accident.  Right, thank you Po.  Over and out."  Wufei clicked off his headset and started slightly as the man moaned and rolled onto his back.  

            He spoke in a cracked voice asking a question and holding his head with two hands.  

            "Just relax.  My friend here hit you with a rock, so the headache is normal." Wufei said, even though he didn't understand the question he'd been asked.  The man groaned and cracked open his eyes looking up at Duo and Wufei.  Duo was grinning sheepishly and gave a small wave.  Wufei simply frowned at his partner and reached into one of the pockets in his khaki uniform, before pulling out a syringe filled with some clear liquid.  The man's eyes opened wide and he scuffled backwards, saying something in almost a scream.  Wufei arched an eyebrow at Duo who simply grinned and moved around so that he could hold the man where he was.  The man struggled against Duo's grasp, who looked hard pressed, even for a Gundam Pilot, to hold him there.  Wufei moved forward slowly, trying to indicate he wasn't going to hurt the redhead, who continued to fight.  

            "Calm down, there.  This is just a sedative.  Now, just give me your arm…"  The man jerked it out of his grasp and flailed wildly about trying to avoid Wufei's hand holding the needle.  

            "Guess he's got a problem with needles." Duo offered cheerfully.  Wufei rolled his eyes and continued to reach for the waving arms, his patience being tried.  

            "Kisama!" He finally exclaimed before going off on rant in Chinese about what a woman this man was being, not allowing one tiny needle near his arm.  

To the surprise of both Gundam pilots, the man calmed and listened to Wufei.  Taking advantage of his sudden stillness, Wufei grabbed his arm, found the vein, and plunged the needle in.  The man gave a yell of pain before relaxing into Duo's grip.  

            As he once against became an unconscious bundle, Duo grinned at Wufei.  "Well, Wu-man, whatever you said seemed to work."  Wufei shrugged and stood back as the sound of sirens came towards them.  

            "We'll just hand this guy over and file our report."  He said dispassionately, staring at the man's sleeping face.

[1]  As much as it seemed that Wufei was a great pilot and all that, the theory is that he's really a pacifist at heart.  He would be far more content studying than fighting, and only took on the mantle of Gundam Pilot when his wife, Meiran (or Nataku as she renamed herself) was killed while trying to protect L5.  In taking on her mantle, he also took on her philosophies of war and all that.  Having two life philosophies at once has gotta be rough, that's probably why Wufei was always such a wreck.  Poor Wu-man.  

[2] I am not sure if it was called the Romefeller Empire.  I haven't finished the series yet, but I just had to write this.  Gah!

[3] As I said before, I haven't seen the entire series, so I don't really know what happened to the Earth.  Maybe there was a war?  I honestly don't know, so I decided to create a reason for New York to be like this and the Hudson River dried up and the Statue of Liberty buried in sand.  Kind of Planet of the Apes- esque, don't you think?  

A/N:  Okay, so this is the first GW fic I have _ever_ written.  It's just been an idea that's been bugging me, and I started typing, and realized it does indeed have great Mary Sue potential.  Jaysus, I was trying to stay away from that.  And I will continue to try, though it'll be quite difficult.  Hope you've enjoyed, reviews are welcome, but not required.  ^_~   Oh, and it goes without saying that flamers will be laughed at.  Quite heartily.  


	2. The Language Barrier

"What the hell did you do to the man?"  The director of the Preventers, Sally Po, asked Wufei and Duo when they made their report later in her office.

            "Not much." Duo protested, "Just knocked him out with a rock when he tried to run away, and then 'Fei shot him up with some sedatives, that's all, honest."  

            Sally looked directly at Wufei who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.  "Well, Chang?  Is that the way it happened?"  She waited for his affirmative nod before continuing.  "Well, the med read outs are a lot different.  It seems that this man's system has gone through some kind of major shock."

            "I checked his pulse when he was unconscious," Wufei said calmly, "It was steady, no fluctuations or flutterings whatsoever.  That man, other than the egg sized lump on his head, seemed just fine.  What are you talking about major shock?"

            "I don't know anything other than what the meds told me.  It's as if this man's heart stopped for the space of a minute sometime in the recent past, and then restarted suddenly.  He also has signs of frostbite on his appendages, meaning his fingers and toes, Maxwell," she shot an irritated look at Duo who was snickering to himself, "And we found something rather interesting in one of his pockets."  She reached into her lab coat and pulled out a small object, which she placed on the desk.

            Wufei and Duo moved forward curiously to look at it.  It looked like a round, black rock, encased in some silver metal.  Along the metal were engravings that seemed to shimmer under the fluorescent lights.  At one end a small red knob stuck out.   

            "What is it?" Duo asked, picking up the stone carefully.  

            "That's exactly it," Sally said tiredly, "We don't know what it is.  We don't know if it's benign, malevolent, or just a pretty ornament.  I thought you two might recognize it, but it seems we'll have to wait until he regains consciousness before finding out anymore about it."

            "Kisama." Wufei breathed, taking the stone from Duo.  It had a strange weight to it, and the metal felt oddly warm cupped in the palm of his hand.  He looked up at Sally.  "You'll have a hard time interrogating him.  He doesn't seem to speak the Common Language, or any other language that I recognize."  

            "Language will be no problem, as there is no language in our system, hell, in our galaxy, that hasn't been logged and deciphered.  Not to worry, Chang, we'll get the information we need.  Now, you are dismissed."  

            Duo grinned and practically ran from the office.  Wufei stayed where he was, handing the object back to Sally.  "Major Po…" He started.

            "Wufei, you don't have to be so formal." She said with a small smile.  

Wufei's face didn't change expression.  "Major Po," he continued, "I was wondering if I could have the room number of the man we brought in today."

"Of course, Wufei," Sally said, "and if you're going to visit him, why don't you bring Quatre along with you.  I'm sure Mr. Winner wouldn't object to making up some dinner for the new arrival."  

Wufei nodded.  "Thank you, Major."  He turned and walked out of the office, leaving Sally with a smile on her face.  

"Oh poor Wufei," She sighed, "Still caught up in war mode.  Well, at least it seems your showing interest in another person than Nataku at last."

~*~*~*~

Darkness, sleepy deep darkness.  It felt so good, he never wanted to leave it.  It was so different from that freezing world he had plunged into.  _No, that wasn't another world, that was another universe, another freaking time plane.  _

Light cutting through the darkness, someone whispering near him.  More light, more light.  _No!  I don't want to leave now.  I was just getting comfortable…ow…my head hurts…_  

His eyes flashed opened and he sat up with a  gasp.  Or, tried to sit up.  But his arms were strapped down.  And, oh goodness, so were his legs.  _For the love of…who would want to tie me down?_  

He looked around wildly.  Everything around him was a sterile white, and one word flashed through his head.  Hospital.  So he was in some sort of hospital, strapped down to a bed.  For one fleeting second he worried that he had somehow woken in the middle of  some surgical procedure and was about to find his intestines or some other organ pulled out onto the table.  

But he knew he hadn't when he saw the white hospital gown someone had dressed him in.  _How thoughtful of them_.  He wanted to slap the sarcastic voice in his head.  This was not a time for that.  He needed to figure out what had happened to him and how he'd ended up in this hospital bed.  

Of course he remembered being in the sandy bottom of what once must have been the Hudson River.  He could only have guessed that by what he found lying half-buried there.  Actually, he remembered having been sitting on a different kind of sand only seconds before winding up on the dried up bottom of the river, right outside his tent, listening to the keening cries of desert men as they called to the four corners of the Earth for prayer.  

The whispering grew louder and he craned his neck to look behind him.  There stood two young men, who looked almost like boys yet he could tell they were older than they appeared.  

One was a delicate looking blonde, with large aquamarine eyes, dressed in a blue vest and salmon (he seriously thought it was more of a pink, and he admired the young man's bravery to where a pink shirt) buttoned shirt and khaki pants.  He had a round, babyish face, and carried a tray loaded with what could only be food, in addition to a silver tea set. The taller (by only a couple of inches) was apparently of Chinese descent, his inky black hair pulled savagely back from his face.  He recognized this one as one of the two who came across him in the river bottom, the one who had shot him full of some kind of drug.  The Chinese man was dressed differently- instead of the crisp khaki uniform he was completely garbed in white, in what appeared to be a traditional Chinese outfit of loose, silk pants and shirt with wide sleeves.  His eyes could be either dark brown or black even, it was difficult to tell where the pupil ended and the iris began.

He was pulled out of his musings when the blonde spoke, walking forward and placing the tray on a table by his bed.  He watched the blonde speak enigmatically for a few seconds, his eyes nearly crossing as he tried to understand what the young man was saying.  Suddenly the Chinese man interrupted the blonde, who blushed and looked down at his feet.  The man dressed in white moved forward so he was standing very close to his bed.  He pointed to himself and said in a clipped tone, "Chang Wufei."  

_So he is Chinese._  The name itself was very Chinese, as well as the form.  He knew that it was traditional in China to put the surname before the given name.  He nodded to Wufei and repeated his name to indicate he understood.  Then Wufei pointed to the blonde and said, "Quatre Reberba Winner."  

"Four?" He asked confused slightly by the use of a number for a name, saw Wufei's eyes narrow slightly, then nodded and quickly said, "Quatre Reberba Winner."  _What an odd mix.  French and British, but they make the name sound almost Arabic._  The two men looked at him expectantly.  

"Oh yeah, sorry," He said.  Wufei looked at him and said, "Ohyeah Sorry?"  

"No, no!" He realized the mistake, then made a vague gesture with his bound hand towards himself, "Gabriel Carter."

"Gabriel Carter?"  Wufei asked for verification, and Gabriel nodded and tried to move his hand in an effort to shake Wufei's.  Wufei watched his struggle with a slightly quizzical gaze for a minute until Quatre said something softly.  The quizzical look suddenly disappeared as Wufei reached out and pressed a button.  A slight hiss and the bonds were gone, allowing Gabriel to sit up.  

"Thanks," he said, rubbing his wrists and reaching out a hand.  Wufei looked at it suspiciously, and Gabriel worried he may have made some breach in etiquette before Quatre made a slightly irritated noise and moved forward to take his hand.  Gabriel looked at Wufei, but Quatre shook his head and turned to grab the tray and put it on Gabriel's lap.

The blonde started talking in his soft lilting voice, without seeming to care that Gabriel couldn't understand a word he was saying.  Gabriel in turn started picking at the food on his plate carefully, unsure at first, until he saw it was very similar to food he was used to.  Even so, he chose to eat mainly the salad and fresh fruits.  It was a pleasant change from the dried beef rations he had grown used to while working in the desert for weeks on end.  

That reminded him…how the hell did he get here in the first place?  He nibbled on a lemon reflectively, his eyes watering slightly as the bitter juice squirted to the back of his throat.  

Gabriel Carter was an archaeologist, as well as a full-time professor at Stanford, the youngest professor of the century.  Even though he had been published several times, with acknowledgement from some of the most well-known researchers in his field, he rarely got the chance to go out and do field work.  So, he had been in bunches, quite literally, when he managed to receive funding for an excavation in the Sahara, near the Valley of the Dead.  

_Flashback_

_"I don't understand why you would want to excavate something that's been searched with a fine tooth comb for over a century, Carter.  However, since it will not prove to be detrimental to the University's reputation should you verify some already proven theory, or perhaps establish a new, credible, thesis, and since you are already so knowledgeable of the customs and language of Egypt, I see no reason not to allow this excavation to go on."_

_"Thank you, Dean Rickmond.  I can assure you you've made a wise decision."_  

End Flashback 

And he had gone, gathered a team of men, mostly locals who could all be persuaded to do some heavy work for the right price.  His assistant had been another young colleague, Nancy Potter, a young woman with enormous potential and an intense passion for her work.  Of course there had been several raised eyebrows at the thought of these two, _unmarried_ people going off into the desert to dig in the sand.  

Gabriel had done his best to quell any rumors that he and Nancy were an item, without giving away the real reason as to why he wouldn't consider doing anything "risqué" out in the field.  Of course, the rumors hadn't been completely quelled, especially among the students, and Gabriel had finally just said, 'Hell with it!' and let the rumors fly.  

They had been out in the field for several weeks before actually finding anything worthwhile.  It had been long enough for Gabriel to start worrying but not enough to panic unnecessarily.  He and Nancy went through their usual morning routines, meeting outside their tents for an early cup of thick Turkish coffee, watching the sky start to go from black to gray as the Egyptian morning started.  This was the best time to work.  This way, they could get most of the digging done in the cool morning air, take a small break for lunch, and then work on paperwork during the hottest part of the afternoon.  

Around midmorning, there was a shout from among the men and Gabriel and Nancy ran over to them.  They stood around a small opening, barely hidden by the desert sand.  _It seemed so innocent.  But it was far from it…_  

"Ahem."  Gabriel's attention was snapped back to the present when Wufei cleared his throat.  He looked up questioningly to see that three other men and a woman had entered the room.  Quatre took the tray off his lap and he sat up and swung his legs of the side of the bed so at least he could face the people.  He quickly took down his first impressions of them before anyone spoke.

Next to Wufei stood a slim man with sparkling purple eyes and a long auburn braid that fell past his waist.  _Oh yes, him.  He was with Wufei in the…there_.  He had changed out of his uniform as well, except, unlike Wufei, he was dressed completely in black_._  He had a black, high collared shirt, with a white shirt sticking out of the top, giving his outfit a priest-like appearance.  His black pants flared out at the sides into jodhpurs and were tucked into high black boots.  A gold cross on a delicate chain hung around his neck.    

Slightly behind the braided one stood a slightly taller one with messy, dark brown hair.  He looked like he could be Japanese, but, honestly, with those piercing Cobalt eyes he could have been of any Asian descent.  He was dressed simply in a green tank top, with spandex looking shorts, and god-awful mustard colored sneakers.  Gabriel could see he had a quiet intensity about him, and he stood almost protectively at the shoulder of the man sporting the braid and gothic priest look.  

The other man stood close to Quatre.  He was far taller than Quatre by a good six inches.  He dressed simply as well, black turtleneck, comfortable jeans.  It was his hair that caught Gabriel's attention.  The back was cut fairly normally.  The rest of the brown locks seemed to stick out as if held up by hairspray over his forehead, successfully covering half his face, and leaving one bright, emerald green eye visible.  

Gabriel turned his attention to the only woman in the room.  She was tall, and graceful in the only way a tall woman can be, yet still managed to keep herself composed.  She was dressed in a white lab coat and dress slacks, her light brown hair twisted into two, buns?  No, braids, of some sort, that fell over the front of her shoulders.  

Amazingly, Gabriel took all of this in within a few seconds before the woman spoke.  She smiled and extended her hand, saying what Gabriel could only guess were words of welcome or apology for what had happened to him.  He accepted her hand, allowing a small smile.  Even though they had fed him and cared for him, Gabriel found himself keeping his guard up.  One could never tell.  She then gave him a list of names, gesturing to each of the men in the room.  He recognized Wufei and Quatre's names, of course.  The tall man with strange hair was Trowa Barton, the possibly Japanese man was Heero Yuy, and the braided man was Duo Maxwell.  The woman gestured to herself and said, "Sally Po."  Gabriel nodded his understanding, repeating the names.   

            Then Sally started to speak in longer sentences, and Gabriel could sense she was switching dialects every so often.  _Ah, so they're trying to see what I speak.  Well, if they would let me get a word in edgeways they might have a better chance of figuring that out._  As he listened, he realized he couldn't understand a single word of any of the dialects she was trying.  Some sounded suspiciously French or Spanish, even Italian, languages he'd managed to grasp fairly easily, but they were muted by some twist of the tongue that he'd never heard before.  He waited patiently, searching for any words he might understand.  

            The five men stood through all of this just as patiently, each with different expressions, ranging from hopeful (Quatre) to suspicious (Heero).  Wufei and Trowa seemed totally indifferent, while Duo simply grinned a huge grin, showing off all his white teeth, somehow managing to hide his feelings behind flashing white teeth.  

            This strange interrogation (for that was the only way he could think of it as) continued for nearly an hour before Gabriel felt his patience starting to thin.  __

"Oh, for the love of all that's holy, woman, will you just let me speak?" Gabriel realized too late that he'd just spoken aloud and interrupted Sally as six pairs of eyes stared directly at him.  _Oops…_  

A/N:  Okay people, sorry if those lengthy descriptions took away anything from the story.  It's just that I like to paint a picture with words so my readers aren't really left in the dark about anything.  Of course, I do like to retain some mystery in the story, which there is some…maybe…or there will be for sure.  Oh, and the whole language thing, it's actually a big barrier.  Just think about how much languages can change over a century, and we're thinking many centuries after poor Gabriel was alive, so that means there must be an entirely new slew of dialects, including the one I've ambiguously titled "Common Language."  Don't worry, all things will be explained…sometime…yeah… **sweatdrop**  Anyway, once again, reviews appreciated and all flamers will be mocked.  


	3. Tongue of the Dragon

            Wufei listened distantly as Sally switched her speech to the Arabic of L4, watching as Quatre's face grew continuously more hopeful.  He looked at the man, Carter, who seemed to be desperately trying to understand, and yet at the same time appeared to have accepted the fact that he wouldn't.  Wufei sighed, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms in what appeared to be a relaxed position.  _How much longer is she going to continue?  She should know we will not really be able to translate his dialect until we hear it.  Stupid onna._  

            Suddenly the man spoke in an irritated tone, interrupting Sally and making Wufei snap to attention.  Carter was leaning forward, his face calm looking, yet Wufei could see the impatience in the brown eyes.  All five pilots and Sally stared at him in surprise until he appeared to come to his senses and adopted an acceptable look of chagrin.  He raised his hands in an appeasing gesture, his eyes narrowing as he seemed to concentrate on what to do next.  Finally he started to speak.  Wufei listened intently, recognizing the man's dialect, before he suddenly switched and started speaking in another language altogether.  Wufei looked around the group to see if any there understood.

            Trowa was leaning against the wall as well, yet Wufei could see his one green eye focused intently on the man, his brow knitted slightly as he tried to understand.  Then Carter switched languages again and this time Quatre seemed to try to understand what he was saying.  Wufei blew a breath forcefully out of his lungs, letting his own impatience show at last and started moving towards the door.  

~*~*~*~

            Words, words, words.  The thought kept running ironically through Gabriel's head as he searched desperately for the right language, something that would connect him to these people.  He started with French, but that didn't work.  Then Spanish, Italian, Arabic, hell, even some of the Japanese he knew.  But there was nothing, no sign of recognition, no acknowledgement, nothing.  Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Chinese man, Wufei, heave a sigh and head towards the door.  Then Gabriel wanted to slap his forehead in exasperation.  _Of course!  Why didn't you think of this before, you stupid, idiotic…_

            "Wait, don't leave, Wufei." He tried desperately in the Chinese he knew.  It worked.  Wufei stopped in the doorway and slowly turned around.  "I think I found the right one this time." Gabriel said, smiling slightly.  Wufei didn't return the smile, moving forward until he was standing next to Sally.  

            "How do you know the language of the Dragon Clan?" Wufei asked in Chinese, his eyes growing dark with suspicion.  

Gabriel raised his eyebrows.  "Dragon Clan?"     
Abruptly Wufei moved even closer so his face was mere inches from Gabriel's.  "How do you know the sacred language of my people?"  Or at least, that's

what Gabriel assumed he'd said.  Honestly he didn't trust his knowledge of Chinese.  

            "Where I come from," Gabriel tried, frowning as he searched for the right words, "Chinese isn't sacred."  

            Wufei's eyes narrowed dangerously.  "And where is it you come from that Dragon tongue isn't sacred?"  

            Gabriel's frown deepened.  "Here, of course."

            "Here?"

            "Yes, here, but not here.  I can't, I don't know how to say it.  I don't even think it's possible for me to talk-story it.[1]"  Gabriel shrugged helplessly.  Wufei looked about to respond before there was a delighted whoop behind him, and Duo clapped a hand on his shoulder, jabbering excitedly.  Wufei merely rolled his eyes, trying to shake the braided man off, muttering about long-winded idiots.  Gabriel grinned.  Wufei seemed to be all bark and no bite since he didn't actually do anything he threatened Duo with (including long painful deaths involving pointy objects).  Duo acted oblivious to Wufei's mutterings, instead peering closely at Gabriel and saying something in their language.  He then looked expectantly at Wufei who rolled his eyes again.  

            "The braided idiot says to welcome you here.  And if you ever need a place to stay, you are more than welcome to stay with…what?  No!"  Wufei spun to look angrily at Sally who shrugged her shoulders slightly.  Gabriel waited patiently, his eyebrows raised in polite curiosity.  

~*~*~*~

            "No, Po, he will not be staying with me!" Wufei said stoutly, his arms crossing.  

            "But Wu-man, you're the only one who can understand him." Duo pleaded, "And besides, you've got more than enough room at your place.  You know he couldn't stay with us, we have no room."

            "What about Winner and Barton?  Winner has more money than any other person in this universe, surely he can afford to _build_ an entirely new house for the man."

            "Oh, Wufei, you know I would love to help him out, but Duo does have a point, you are the only one who can understand him.  What would it be saying about us if we don't offer him the proper welcome?" Quatre said softly.

            "You're too soft-hearted, Winner.  The fact is, I don't have enough room in my house for more than one person."

            "Well, you could offer him your bed, and you could be a gracious host and sleep on the couch, or," Duo waggled his eyebrows expressively, "you could keep him company…"

            "Aa!  No, Maxwell!  Yuy, Barton, what do you two have to say about this?" Wufei turned desperately to the silent ones in the background.  His only responses were the characteristic, "Hn." from Heero, and Trowa's raised eyebrows.  "Kisama save me!" Wufei threw his hands up before storming out of the room, leaving five amused people and one very confused Carter.

[1]  In China, when they tell stories, usually to explain a point, it's called "talk-story," or at least that's the English translation of it.  

A/N:  Mwahaha!  I figured out how to get Gabriel into the same house as Wuffie!  Of course he would know Chinese, he wouldn't be a very good Mary Sue if he didn't. ^_^  Hope you enjoyed, until next time! 


	4. A Slight Dilemma...

"Come on Wu-man!  For me?"  

"No, Maxwell, I refuse!  And you aren't going to make any headway using _that_ name.  My name is Wu_fei_, not Wu-_man_.  Got it?"  Wufei stormed down the hallway in Preventer's Headquarters, his face seeming to be permanently set in a scowl.  "I will not be saddled with some useless onna of a man who can barely fight off two people."  

"But we were armed, Wuwu," Duo whined, his voice starting to rise to a pitch that grated severely on Wufei's sensitive nerves.  

"Weak, all of them weak." Wufei muttered under his breath.  He looked up and skidded to a sudden halt, causing Duo to crash into him from behind.  He whipped his head around to glare at the braided man, hissing, "Baka!"  

"A little warning next time might be helpful." Duo said lightly, grinning his insane smile.  Wufei merely shook his head as he looked at what caused him to stop.  

Sally Po was standing directly in front of him with his greatest problem next to her.  _At least he's out of that stupid hospital gown._  Gabriel shifted nervously, a small duffle bag in hand and dressed in what looked to be one of Trowa's turtlenecks and jeans.  He was watching Wufei, his apprehension written clearly on his face.  _Baka onna._  Wufei's frown deepened as he met Sally's eyes.

"Po, with all due respect, I must refuse." His voice was cold and controlled.  Sally narrowed her eyes dangerously.  

"Fine, Chang.  You're going to make me do this the hard way.  As I am the ranking officer in this situation, I order you to open your house to Carter.  No arguments."  

Wufei growled in the back of his throat, causing Duo to back away slightly and Gabriel's shifting to increase.  Sally continued, her tone threatening.  "That's an order, Chang.  And if I hear one word about this man being mistreated, _you_ will be held responsible and penalized accordingly.  Is that clear, Chang?"

_If you hear anything, it won't be from this man or me, since I am the only one who can understand him._  Wufei thought, but aloud he merely nodded with a muttered, "Affirmative."

Sally nodded with ill-concealed smug satisfaction.  "Good.  Take him with you now.  Get him some more clothes a good meal.  I know you're an exceptional cook, though you try and hide it.  Duo, could I have a word with you please?"  With that, she and Duo walked off down the hallway, leaving two very uncomfortable men standing alone.  

They stood for an inestimable amount of time, each sizing the other up, one with annoyance and the other with a frightened wariness.  Wufei heaved a sigh at last and turned away, gesturing for Gabriel to follow him.  He had finished work for the day and decided now was the best time to get the onna-man (a term he decided was fitting of the hapless Carter) home and situated and out of his way as soon as possible.  Gabriel shuffled after him, his eyes darting from side to side when they left the main Preventers' building.  

Wufei barely noticed Gabriel had stopped following him until he reached his car, his furious silent ranting somehow preventing his natural awareness of what was happening around him.  

"Nani?!" he practically yelled, whirling around in shock.  Gabriel wasn't there and Wufei scanned the nearby area frantically until he spotted a figure darting in out from behind cars in the lot.  He smiled to himself smugly.  There was no way the onna-man could get away from _him_ that easily.  He broke out into a run, cutting across the lot diagonally in an intercept course.  _I piloted Nataku in the war, I am a Captain in the Preventers, there is no way this _onna_ is going to escape me.  Especially not when I've been given _orders_ to take care of him._

~*~*~*~

Gabriel didn't know why he was running away from Wufei.  Okay, maybe that was a lie.  He _knew_ exactly why he was running from the man, he just couldn't put it into words.  There was something he'd forgotten in the Preventers' building, something which called to him, something that had been calling to him the second he woke up earlier that day bound to a table and sporting a lovely hospital gown.  Now, he knew it was imperative to get it back, for how could they possibly know the power of what they had in there?  He himself had only been given a small taste of what that thing was capable of and look what happened to him.  Though he knew little about it, it was a far cry more than what they knew and would be safer in his hands.  He gritted his teeth, giving up trying to the ducking and weaving aversion and headed straight in the direction of the building.  _Almost there…_  

"HYAAAAAHHH!"  Gabriel's running halted as his was thrown bodily to the ground, his breath knocked out of him.  There was a heavy weight on his back, and, with a small groan, he turned his head to look up at his assailant.  Wufei crouched right in the small of his back, staring down at him with a delighted smirk.  

"Weak woman." He said in a pleased voice.  Gabriel frowned and without warning heaved himself to his feet, effectively dislodging Wufei who easily flipped through the air and landed on his feet gracefully.  

"Let me go back to the building."  Gabriel panted, holding his elbow gingerly, sore from where it had smashed against the pavement.  

Wufei raised one of his finely shaped eyebrows.  "And tell me, why should I let you do that?  We are going to my house where you'll…"

"I need to go back in the building…now." Gabriel insisted, interrupting the Chinese man.  Wufei merely smirked at him.  Gabriel decided to try again, a different approach this time.  Looking at some point over Wufei's shoulder, he widened his eyes and gasped in apparent fear.  Wufei spun around to see what was behind him.  Gabriel took the opportunity to sprint the last few feet to the doorway of the Preventer's head quarters.  

Wufei spun back around in time to see the door close.  "_Kuso_!" 

Gabriel ran down the hallways, definitely lost, though he was trying his best to remember where Sally Po had taken him shortly before he and she met up with Wufei.  It had definitely seemed like it would be her office, and right now it was his best bet if he wanted to find her or her location.  He spotted a hallway to the left that looked somewhat familiar which he took.  Just as Gabriel spotted the door leading to Sally's office, he heard a familiar swish in the air, followed by a "HYAAAAAHHH!"  His only thought before being knocked to the floor was, 'Not again.'

~*~*~*~  

            Wufei caught sight of Gabriel running towards Sally's office.  _Oh no you don't._  He catapulted himself through the air once more, his feet making contact with Gabriel's unprotected back.  _Baka onna._  

            However, what happened next caught Wufei totally unprepared.  As Gabriel crashed towards the ground, one arm reached back and clasped Wufei's ankle, setting him off balance and sending him headlong to the ground as well.  Having been caught off guard, Wufei landed hard on his back.  He was ready to get back up in an instant, but before he was able to a fist smashed into his face.  He blinked in surprise, barely fending off the next fist in time.  Gabriel was already up and straddling Wufei's middle, his arms flailing wildly as he tried to punch the living daylights out of the black haired man.  He was muttering in a constant stream, in the language Wufei didn't understand.  Not that he was trying to understand it at all at the moment.  No, he was having a hard enough time defending his nose from the onslaught of fists.  It wasn't the best of times to become a linguist.  

            As the attack continued, Wufei felt some cool and calm part of his mind, the part that had kept him alive all those years during the wars, kick into action.  He timed the blows before deciding to grab both of the wrists in his hands.  Gabriel's eyes opened wide in surprise as the Chinese man pulled him down as though to kiss him.  But, it was decidedly not a kiss Wufei intended to deliver as he whipped his head up and smashed it against Gabriel's.  He released the man's wrists, watching interestedly as he fell back, clutching at his nose.  Gabriel rolled away, still nursing his rapidly bruising face and Wufei stood, smirking triumphantly once again.  

            His victory was short lived when once again he was brought to the floor, this time by Gabriel kicking a foot out and forcing him to lose balance.  As soon as Wufei hit the floor Gabriel attacked in a flurry of punches.  Wufei grunted in pain as one of the fists broke through his defenses, catching him on his cheekbone.  _That's it.  I've had enough of this._  

            With that final thought, Wufei turned to the offensive with a clean uppercut, connecting directly with Gabriel's chin.  As he fell back again, Wufei took the time to attack with his own onslaught of punches, mostly open palmed directed towards Gabriel's nose.  This went on for a while, until Gabriel brought his knee directly up into Wufei's stomach in an attempt to knock the wind out of him, before trying to shake the Chinese man off.  

            Wufei had other plans though.  He latched onto the other man's upper arms, and Gabriel winced.  Wufei smirked slightly, knowing the red head would have bruises where he'd been grabbed.  Gabriel brought his knee up again and again, his hands hard at work pounding the best they could against Wufei's unprotected sides.  

            So intent on their fight that neither man noticed a door open nearby, until Duo's amused voice cut through the ruckus they were making,  "Geez, Wufie, aren't you supposed to wait for nookie until the third date?"

As soon as the voice spoke, both men looked up in surprise.  Wufei gaped at the newcomer, his face flushed with anger and embarrassment, relaxing his grip on Gabriel's arms slightly.  Gabriel took advantage of this, yanking his arm free and slamming his fist one last time into Wufei's jawbone.  Wufei jumped up and away from the redhead, reeling slightly.  Duo and Sally were standing in her doorway, Duo's face split into a huge entertained grin, while Sally looked disappointed.  

"Chang, I ordered this man not to be mistreated.  What the hell happened?"   

"He tried to escape.  I had to stop him, and this was the only way how."  Wufei explained, his voice slightly muffled as he staunched a nosebleed. 

"Oooh, hot passionate sex on the floor of the Preventer's building, I should keep that in mind." Duo exclaimed gleefully, his violet eyes shining in excitement.     Wufei rolled his eyes, the blood now flowing more thickly from his nasal cavity.(1)  "No, Maxwell, we were not…couldn't you see…it was a fight!"  Duo's shark grin grew even further in size.  

"Oh, so that's what you call it, Wuwu.  I was wondering, because I don't think I've ever heard you say the word sex before.  Now I know what you mean by 'fighting.'"  Wufei choked slightly, the blood now falling in a virtual Niagara Falls of crimson liquid.  

"As much as I'm enjoying watching Chang lose a pint of his blood over this, I think we need to ask Carter here what he was thinking.  What do you think, Chang?" Sally interrupted, her voice sounding slightly impatient.  

Chang looked about to protest, but gave up and turned to Gabriel who was now sitting against the wall, gently touching the new bruise on his chin.  "Carter, my superior wishes to know why you tried to get back into the building?"  

~*~*~*~

            Secretly, Gabriel was thankful Duo had interrupted when he had.  True, he had been putting up a good fight, though he'd honestly never been really trained in self-defense or hand-to-hand combat, but his mettle had been up and he had felt invincible.  And he knew that would have been a one way ticket to "Ass-kicking-ville," a trip he really rather didn't want to take.  Besides, there was the more pressing matter at hand, which Sally had opened the subject to very nicely. 

            Gabriel stood on slightly unsteady legs, his body shaking from the remaining adrenaline still rushing through him, ignoring the satisfied smirk on Wufei's face when he saw his condition.  He looked pointedly at Sally.  

            "I would like the medallion back, please." He said, hoping the tone of his voice brooked no room for protest.  Wufei's eyes widened slightly as he relayed the request/demand.  Sally smiled at Gabriel, responding with Wufei acting as their translator, of course.

            "Why do you want it?"

            "Because it cannot remain here."

            "I think it would be safer for it to remain here until we learn more about it."

            "That isn't the point.  It would be better for it to be away from all of these people."

            "Is it dangerous?"

            "Possibly."

            "Then we should destroy it."  

            Gabriel felt his heart almost stop, and he moved forward slightly, his eyes wide with fear.  "No!  You cannot!"

            "Wouldn't that be the safest course of action?"

            "As much as I would like to throw it into the deepest part of the ocean, there are many facts to consider.  One, you cannot simply just destroy something you know nothing about.  It could have some sort of reaction during the process that could end up in an apocalyptic disaster."

            "Wufei, are you embellishing on this any?"

            "No, ma'am.  I am repeating what he's saying as closely as I possibly can."

            "Very well.  Continue with your explanation, Carter."

            "Two, it may be a dangerous object that can actually be used in some way to benefit people.  And three…"

            "What's three then?"

            "Yeah, Wu-man, stop staring at him like he's grown another head."

            "Three is…it may be his only way of getting home.  Where are you from, Carter?"  Wufei crossed his arms, looking intently at Gabriel who blinked.  

            "What year is this?"  

            Wufei snorted.  "AC 201."

            "What is AC?" Gabriel asked, blinking at the unfamiliar title.  

            "Don't tell me you don't know what AC is."  

            "I know BC, or BCE, if you want to be 'p.c'(2), and AD.  But, AC is something I am not familiar with, no." Gabriel said shrugging.  

            "It means 'After Colony.'  We stopped using the AD a long time ago." Wufei explained.  Gabriel still felt lost.  

            "You are going to have explain all of this to me, but not right now.  Right now, I need that medallion.  It is the only way I can get home."

            "What the hell are you talking about, Carter?" Wufei asked impatiently, "Where is your home?"

            "It's not so much as _where_ my home is, but _when_." Carter glanced at Duo and Sally's confused expressions, as neither had understood much of the recent conversation, before looking back at the irritated Wufei.  He sighed resignedly.  "I am not from your time.  I come from a time when that statue in the riverbed was still standing upright with her torch.  In fact, when I woke up this morning, I was in the middle of the Sahara Desert in Egypt on an archaeological dig, in the year 1995 AD."(3)

(1) Anyone who knows anything about anime knows that anime males have thinner tissues in their nasal cavities.  These tissues tear quite easily, and this most often occurs whenever the males become sexually aroused.  Wufei seems like the sort of character who is very conscious of any little innuendos thrown his way.  ^_^

(2) BCE is another way of saying before AD, and is considered a "pc" (politically correct) term, because it doesn't incorporate the word Christ in there anywhere (I have my own issues with this, but that story is for another day.) 

(3) Why 1995?  I don't know why.  It just seemed like a good year to use.  Nothing too close to where we are now, nothing too far back, so Gabriel's speech sounds normal based on the time setting he's from.  I was considering having him come from the sixties, but then I was afraid I would mess something up, and it would become totally ridiculous, so he's from the nineties, and that's how it is!  

A/N:  Whew.  That was a tough one to get out.  But it's done, and I apologize if the fight scene seemed too technical to read (hey, it was my first really violent scene I've ever written, and those of you who've read my other fanfic, those scenes are a different kind of violence.  It's much easier to describe people pointing wands and screaming "_Avada Kedavra_" and all that nonsense.)  Okay, I'm hoping that I'll get more chapters out really soon, so just bear with me.  Until then, read and enjoy!  ^_^


End file.
